The BEST Chocolate Mud Cake

There’s an old fashion saying in the cake world: not all cakes are alike. Okay… so maybe that’s not a real saying, but all bakers will agree that it’s true. Certain cakes are more light and spongy, while others are more sturdy. This cake is the latter. This is the BEST Chocolate Mud Cake recipe you will ever try. For foundational recipes, some of my go-tos are my buttercream frosting, and my basic sugar cookie. Consider this next one a regular recipe because you’re going to be using it all the time! This is my Chocolate Mud Cake recipe!

These cakes are perfect for tier cakes, or if you want to work with fondant. What I love about mud cakes is that they have a fairly long shelf life (1 week without being refrigerated!), and even though they are more sturdy than other cakes, it’s not so dense that you can’t enjoy it. You’ll seriously never want to make another chocolate cake again!

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch round cake pan, 3 inches deep. Line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. (If you don’t have a 3-inch deep pan, you can use a 9-inch springform, but you may want to wrap the outside of the pan with foil in case the batter leaks.)

In a saucepan, combine the butter, water, and coffee over medium heat until they come to a slow boil. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until it’s completely melted. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda and make a well in the center.

Pour in the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and chocolate mixture and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until there are no lumps.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Allow the cake to completely cool in the pan before removing.

Option for Decorating:

Dip the bottom ⅔ of strawberries into melted chocolate and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to set.

Sprinkle chocolate sprinkles over the melted chocolate on the strawberries to decorate

Place melted chocolate in a snap seal bag. Cut off a fine corner tip, and drizzle melted chocolate in straight lines over the chocolate covered strawberries.

Chop room temperature KitKat blocks into sets of 2.

Spread ganache onto a cake board/cake plate. Then, place the mud cake right on top.

Pour the chocolate ganache over the top of the entire cake. Spread it evenly with an offset spatula.

Clean up any excess ganache with a paper towel.

Place your Kit Kats 2 at a time around the mud cake.

Tie a piece of red ribbon around the break mark between the two halves of the Kit Kat bar.

Place a couple of non chocolate dipped strawberries onto the top of the cake. Then, alternate between the chocolate drizzled strawberries, and the chocolate sprinkled strawberries.